The Tablelands
by Jet556
Summary: Gard returns home to the Tablelands. Instead of finding the village he had been born in, he finds a town and in that town an old friend: Lynx-O and finds a new one in Bengali. However, in this town where Evabon, Cat, Lizard and Nomis all live together things might be difficult. It might be too soon for four different races to be living in the same town.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome everyone. This story is just something I wanted to do. Enjoy and review.**

**Homeward Bound**

The Tablelands. It had been here so many centuries ago that Gard had been born. Today he returned. With him were Balor, Zuvowang, Brigid, Dalv, Rotherham, Terag, Asaji and a few other Evabon from the Valley of the Tombs.

As they stood on the edge of this beautiful sight, memories began to flood into Gard's head. Some laughs, some tears, the land was still the same.

There were many herds of athnabs. Gard wondered if any of those herds had once belonged to him.

He then saw the village. The joy in his old eyes vanished. "That's not the village I was born in…"

Balor followed Gard's gaze. He wasn't sure what Gard had been expecting. It had been so long that Gard's village probably didn't exist any more. It must have fallen years ago. "That looks too big to be a village, Gard."

Zuvowang nodded. He just wasn't nodding because he wasn't the smartest. He was nodding because it did indeed look too big to be a village. "Yes, yes… that is a town, not a village…"

Gard sighed and held up a telescope. It was a town. Filled with all sorts of races. Cat, lizard, Evabon, Nomis, it seemed impossible but there was more than one race in that town.

There seemed to be a great many people in the center of town while an Evabon stood before them speaking. At least Gard presumed it was an Evabon, it could have just been a statue being set up.

A smile came to Gard's lips. This was something new to the tablelands. His village was gone but this town was here.

Gard then looked at a house just outside of town. "Lets start there."


	2. Chapter 2

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**The Mark of Pwyll**

As Gard and Zuvowang approached the lone house, a sword sticking into a burial mound caught Gard's attention. As Balor and Brigid caught up to the two adults, Gard walked up to the sword and placed a hand on the hilt.

"Trodai breataine." After speaking his respect for this unknown buried one, Gard rejoined Zuvowang at the door to the house. Zuvowang knocked while Gard stood there looking at the lightning bolt scratched onto the door. Gard then turned his head to look down at the lightning bolt-shaped scar on Balor's right arm. Once it had been arrow shaped but Balor, an eight year-old boy, had turned the arrow into a lightning bolt to forever remember who is blood father was.

"Ce ata ansin?" That was a woman's voice and that woman was an Evabon since she spoke their language.

"Two who bring a child with a lightning bolt on his arm and a child with no lightning bolt on either of hers." Gard looked at the door. He was only working on a hunch here but what if this was… The door opened and in a purple robe was a red skinned Evabon woman in her late thirties.

The woman started to dart her head around. She looked at Balor with wide eyes. "A stepson!" The woman grabbed Balor and lifted him into her arms. A shocked Balor started to struggle to escape. The woman looked closely at Balor's eyes and then his chin. "He who gave you life has also given you his eyes and chin." Balor stopped struggling when he realized that the woman was talking about his father Pwyll. "And somehow you came to have his mark, the mark that the people in town have branded me and your half-sister with." The woman put Balor down and pulled back her right sleeve. There was a lightning bolt-shaped scar on it. "I am Dejah, your father Pwyll was married to me before he got bored." Balor looked at the scar and then backed away. Dejah then looked at Gard. "Who are you?"

"Gard is who I am, Balor's mother is or rather was descended from me." Gard placed a hand on Baler's head. "He's the only family I've got." Gard then looked at Zuvowang. "This living sarcophagus is Zuvowang…" Zuvowang did not look amused with Gard's joke. Gard then pointed at Brigid. "And this little girl is his descendant Brigid." Gard then placed a hand on his own throat. "Could you look after these two while we go into town?"

Dejah quickly wrapped her arms around Balor. "The townspeople swore that if a son of Pwyll were ever to appear they'd kill him. He'd be safer here."

"And Brigid?" Zuvowang looked down at the little girl. There was much worry in his voice.

"She'll be fine to go with you and the others waiting on the path." Dejah could see the others that had come with Gard. She knew that Brigid would be safe in town.


	3. Chapter 3

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**Alkaeus **

Balor looked at the great pair of cestus and the shoulder guard on the altar inside of Dejah's home. Dejah's daughter and Balor's half-sister the grey skinned Thoris looked at Balor. He was so small compared to the cestus and shoulder guard.

"So big… did these belong to a giant?" Balor placed a hand on the shoulder guard. Thoris stared at Balor's tiny hand. She remembered having been that age once and the looking at the huge cestus and shoulder guard. "Whose are these?"

"My mother's grandfathers." Thoris' voice, like honey, was gentle. If one of the women from the town were to see Balor they'd be harsh with him. "Alkaeus."

Balor turned to look at up at Thoris. She was eleven years older than him. She was tall, beautiful, dressed in golden clothing that only covered two places on her body.

Thoris was descended from Alkaeus? He had been a legend like Gard. A great hero! A giant like Thomeheb! Alkaeus had been a criminal who became a gladiator, which is what Evabon criminals became when captured. Alkaeus had been sentenced to six years and during those six years he became better than he previously had been. His most famous heroic act had been saving people from the city of Kawdor during the eruption of Mount Dunkan. Balor had heard stories of Alkaeus. If Alkaeus still lived then maybe things would have been better. Maybe the village Balor and Gard had called home would still be around.

"If our father was half the Evabon Alkaeus had been maybe we'd be able to go into town and be safe." Balor looked at the cestus. If only Pwyll had been like Alkaeus but if he had then Balor either would have never been born or would have been the son of Niro.

For someone as young as Balor to think of such a thing was troubling! Thoris herself had thought about if things would have been different if Pwyll had been like her late stepfather who was buried outside.

There was a bit of silence. A new subject was needed.

Thoris placed a finger on her chin. Balor kept looking at the cestus. From the way Balor was looking at the cestus, Thoris guessed that her little brother wasn't much of a swimmer.

"Balor…"

"Hmm?"

"Can you swim?"

Balor shrugged. "Not really. If I can't feel the bottom I don't want to be in the water." Balor actually could swim. He just wasn't great at it. He was like a lake serpent missing its left front flipper and right hind flipper. Basically, he could keep his head over the water but he wasn't really going to be going anywhere.

"Then how about I teach you?" Thoris' question caused Balor to think. If he were to swim then he wouldn't have to just stay in one spot keeping his head above the water. That and all the other Evabon children around the Valley of the Tombs could swim. Brigid, whom Balor's heart beat for, could swim. He kind of felt embarrassed that he couldn't swim, like how Zuvowang was with not being able to read.

Finally, Balor nodded. Maybe learning how to swim properly would be of use to him.


	4. Chapter 4

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**In Search of Familiar Faces**

In town, Gard, Zuvowang and Dalv stood next to a broken fountain. In the middle of the fountain was a statue that was beyond broken. The statue was devasted. No one could even tell what the statue had been.

Gard sighed. "Right, I'm going to see if I can notice any familiar faces. Dalv, go do something. Zuvowang… stay here."

Gard started to walk away when Zuvowang grabbed him by the arm. "What do you mean stay here?"

Gard rolled his eyes. "You killed your music teacher."

"He hit me first!"

"You defiled a woman."

"She wanted to!"

"You killed three of your sons."

"In self defense! And I thought they were demons! And I was drunk!"

Gard shook his head. He sat Zuvowang down and pointed a finger at Zuvowang. "Stay here. Don't kill anyone. Don't defile anyone. Don't drink the water in this fountain." And with that Gard left and so did Dalv to go do something.

Zuvowang shook a fist at Gard as he walked away. He then looked at the water. He could take a drink from the water in this fountain if he wanted to. Zuvowang put his hands in the water and scooped out some muddy water. Actually, it was more mud than water. Zuvowang let out a sigh and wiped his hands on his trousers. So what if they'd be muddy?

Then it dawned on Zuvowang that he had no idea where Brigid was. Where was she?


	5. Chapter 5

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**Bones being sold**

As Gard walked through the streets of this town, he noticed something strange. Bones being sold at a shop! How curious. When Gard walked into the shop he was greeted by a young white tiger of about seventeen.

"Indra must have sent you for his bones." Gard raised an eyebrow. Indra? Sent for his bones? What was this young tiger talking about? He was young, clean limbed, and despite being differently colored there was some passing resemblance to Tygra. Since both were tigers, Tygra and this white tiger must have had a common ancestor before one clan split into two.

"Indra?"

Gard's question caught the white tiger by surprise. "You aren't from that witch doctor?"

"Witch doctor!" Gard's eyes burned with rage. His clan had frowned upon voodoo considering it to be evil and unnatural. The thought of being in anyway connected to a witch doctor caused Gard to be less than joyful.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! I never can tell which of you Evabon is an acolyte of Indra." The white tiger sat down on a chair and looked down at some bones. "You have to believe me! I had no idea! His acolytes their trouble and who knows what they do in Spidera's lair!"

Gard raised his eyebrow again. This witch doctor had acolytes and they resided in the lair of the monster Spidera that Panthro said Grune had killed? "Uh, of course." Gard then walked towards a counter and grabbed a rather large jawbone. "So what exactly does this voodoo cult do in Spidera's lair?"

"I don't know but I'd bet coins to evilos that Indra uses Spidera's corpse as a throne." The two burst into laughter. Given the reputation these witch doctors had it wouldn't surprise Gard in the least. "I'm Bengali… The only grey skins we know are Pwyll's harlot and their spawn."

"I'm Gard."

A look of fear spread across Bengali's face. This couldn't be happening. "The Gard? The one who haunts the wilderness? You… are an Evabon?" Gard nodded in response. "I… I'm so sorry, I thought you were a superstition or a god or a spirit or something!" Gard started looking again at the jawbone. "So… what brings you here?"

"I was born in the tablelands. Can one not return to the land of their birth and bring friends and family?" Gard then looked back at the jawbone. "Komrev, fifteen years old and judging from the size I'd say nine feet tall." Bengali stared in disbelief. How could Gard know such a thing? Had he lived amongst Komrev? "I brought a descendant of mine along… Pwyll is the father."

Bengali swallowed nervously. "A daughter?"

"A son!"

Bengali stood up and walked over to Gard. He whispered into the old savage's ear. "Be careful. Evabon, Nomis, Cat, Lizard, we all treat Pwyll's lot with discontent."


	6. Chapter 6

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**Talk of Pwyll**

"I could kill Pwyll with both hands tied behind my back!" Gard walked over to a window in the shop. There were some boys talking: Evabon, Nomis, Cat, Lizard, they were all talking about Pwyll. Balor's father seemed to have quite the reputation around here. The boy who had said that was a cat.

"I could chop of Pwyll's head with my face!" An Evabon said that. What he said caused Gard to roll his eyes. Boys playing at being men! That's all they were! No matter the race, no matter the time, things were always the same amongst the foolish!

Gard walked away from the window and looked down at some bones. "Why is youth wasted on the idiotic?" Bengali looked up from a skull he was cleaning. "No, not you. Those boys out there!"

"What do you know about Pwyll?"

"Not much, Bengali. All I know of Pwyll is his name, who his father is, what he's done and who is son is."

Bengali put the skull down. "Who is his father? A demon?"

"No, Wodanaz."

"I've heard of him! He's one of your gods!"

Gard shook his head. Thunderans! Always interpreting any Evabon by the way people say their name as a god or a demon! If the name is spoken with utmost respect then Thunderans believe the Evabon to be a god. If the name was spoken with hatred then Thunderans interpreted the Evabon to be a demon.

Evabon did not believe in gods! They were a shamanistic society! They believed in spirits of the elements, not gods. It was because of the Thunderans misinterpretation of things that lead to them converting a few clans, trying to "civilize" them.

"Wodanaz was no god, he was the first shaman. He was one to be honored and respected but not deified."


	7. Chapter 7

**Welcome back everyone. For Indra I mentally cast Carl Lumbly. Picture the voice of the Martian Manhunter from "Justice League" with Indra's dialogue. Enjoy and review.**

**In the Darkness**

Silently, a white figure walked through the darkness towards the body left for him. An Evabon body had been left for an Evabon witch doctor. His name was Indra and he was white as the moon. It was easier to use the black blood from others rather than using his own blood to paint his body.

"Forty-five years old… Very good." Indra held a knife and thrust it into the right heel of the body. He then beat its head against a rock once. Then when that was done he thrust the knife into the throat and watched the black blood of his race seep from the body.

He then held the body over hole and waited for the blood to drain into it. Once the blood had drained he would start to paint his white body black!

Indra could sense the blood of Wodanaz! Eight years old, too young to make good paint but he wouldn't be using the child's blood for paint. All of Wodanaz's bloodline must die, all women he loved must die, of those related to Wodanaz's bloodline must die, all of their friends must die. Indra would have revenge for his defeat at Wodanaz's hands.

A great duel had happened many years ago! A shaman against a witch doctor and it had been he, the witch doctor who had been defeated. It was revenge he wanted for that. Glorious revenge!

Finally, the blood finished draining into the hole. Indra began to paint his body. It was easier to see the skull on and bones he wore when he was painted black.


	8. Chapter 8

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**The Sense**

As Indra finished painting his body in the black blood of another Evabon a feeling came to him. He knew this feeling. He sensed someone on an entirely different plane.

The astral plane!

So someone was trapped in the astral plane were they? Well then, he'd have to see about that.

Another feeling. Indra winced as a fat lizard walked into his… "throne room." Indra let out a sigh and walked over to the corpse of Spidera. He then sat upon it.

"General Slithe… what does the good Lord Mumm-Ra send for?" Indra was less than happy about seeing Slithe. There was just something about him that he didn't like. Then again Slithe did kill one of Indra's grandchildren.

"You know s-s-since Lord Mumm-Ra has-s-s taken your kind into his s-s-service he s-s-seeks your advice often."

"Because of those three barbarians?" Indra had met Donalbain, Orsino and Jaques once. He didn't think very highly of them. He wasn't much for fighting. As long as he was left to his machinations, then he was happy. All Slithe did was nod. "I could always turn them into zombies. It is quite easy to make the toxins, yes take care of those war-loving barbarians! No more of them fighting your forces!"

"Unfortunately, Lord Mumm-Ra, does-s-s not want them to lose their savagery." Slithe didn't seem any more happy about this than Indra. The thought of those three savages fighting till the next day was a headache for both the Lizard general and the Evabon witch doctor. And they knew, Donalbain had a rather strong hatred for Pumyra. It was mutual. "What do you advis-s-se?"

"Unleash them onto other happy fighters, perhaps those monsters Addicus and Kaynar to take those cannibalistic tendencies out of them." Indra's eyes widened. A new feeling! A grandchild? Eight years old! A girl! Wodanaz had his family Indra had his! "Leave me!"

Slithe left with the advice he had been sent for. Now Indra was left to wonder. Where was the granddaughter of his?


	9. Chapter 9

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**Alone**

Indra sat in the darkness. Solitude suited him no one disputed him that was how he came to be. His followers never approached him. It was always Indra who approached them.

His eyes were upon the pit that he had painted himself in. Always he would paint himself black so he would look less strange when wearing the mask carved from his sister's skull.

That drug! Often Indra thought of it! The drug! That powder that had given him the power to turn people into zombies! It was not until the arrival of the animals that he had created it. Puffer fish, the crushed skull of an infant that had been deceased for a month, freshly killed blue lizards, a large dried toad with a large sea worm wrapped around it, silk plant and itching pea! Those were the ingredients and with them he made zombies! Those ingredients had made him feared. Those ingredients that he used to make that powdered drug had made him a great power in the world.

A few days ago he had sent some zombies to be workers at a mill. The owner of the mill had asked Indra for a favor. Extra workers to get enough work done to win a bet. One of the zombies had been crushed in the gears of the mill. It did not matter. They were highly expendable.

But still there was that one. The one! The one who had come out of the zombie state without any damage to the brain! It was impossible but it was true! Indra swore he would kill that cat! That Jaga!

Indra grabbed a knife and began to stab the ground furiously. The thought of that young jaguar! It drove him mad! He had been hotheaded, arrogant wrathful! If he came across that jaguar again he'd eat his heart!

That brief moment of rage ceased as quickly as it came.

Still this grandchild of his, new, young, a girl, pure and beautiful no doubt! If anyone were to use the zombie drug on her they would face his wrath!

No, he would not trust the finding of her to any of his followers. He would trust the finding of her to… That screaming again! If Indra were to get any work done he'd have to deal with it and quickly!

The screaming was coming from the astral plane!

Yes… some poor unfortunate soul was trapped there. How glorious!

The King of Witch Doctors stood up and placed his knife in its sheath. It was time to travel to the astral plane!

And so it was that he began to chant! This chant had been a funeral dirge amongst his clan, now it was a chant for his voodoo spells.

How he remembered his youth in that tropical red gulf. From that palm-fringed shore where he would sit on the sand while the other children swam a great mass of mountains rose high, marvelous and puzzling. A black jungle covered the nearby slopes of the mountains but towering over the jungle were blue-yellow ranges, bare as bones, piling up, they towered over all who lived there. At the edge of the water, lit by the sunset, sprawled his village. Even in the fading light, from the village, the people could see the landmarks. In ruins were many things! Amphitheatre, Ziggurat, Colossus! Great wonders of an older time! On a peak behind a cape stood a ruined ziggurat and it had been there that Indra had been born. But as the sunset turned to night everything turned to vagueness and things disappeared. Yes always the jungle mountains remained the same: dark and puzzling. From the slopes came the booms of voodoo drums! Those drums were the bases of old insect hills that had been smoothed by countless drummers! Always by the night of the moon they would be beaten. One day Indra would return to the land that he had called home. It was there that Indra was hailed as a hero, as the father of the voodoo religion. The Evabon of that beautiful land of jungles and mountains treated him with the highest honors.

Whenever he chanted that specific chant to enter the astral plane it brought back memories of another time to Indra.


	10. Chapter 10

**Welcome. Enjoy.**

**Common Happenings**

It did not matter where anyone was. If there were in the town, outside of it, far from it, one could hear the fighting. As common as it was Evabon, Lizard, Cat and Nomis would fight one another. To call this a fight would be to name it lightly. These were not simple fights but public struggles, riots complete chaos! The reasons for the start of these struggles could range from the petty to the cruel.

Today, it was a cruel reason but one that would be quickly forgotten. It would just be another of these bouts of chaos!

If only it were. All four races were involved in the riot, a bloodlust come over them but not like the one that had cursed Procyon. All those in town who were not a part of the fighting stayed out of the way. Those who were outside of town could hear the fighting but they were not going to watch. There would be quick death, slow death and crippling.

Gard and Benagli watched from the bone shop. The old grey Evabon completely shocked, the young white tiger completely uninterested.

"Why do they fight?"

"Who cares? It happens once a day. With all the fighting that happens here Pwyll's wife and daughter should be allowed to be in the town as well. Have them suffer with the rest of us and not be free by not being allowed in town!" Bengali's comment caused Gard to laugh a bit. Irony was a wonderful and mysterious thing! "I remember once particular fight where-"

"Another time, Bengali." Gard left the shop and walked out onto the open street. He walked through the fighting as if he was walking through water. He tossed aside anyone that came at him with sword or axe. He was used to violence. This was a violent world he had been born on. Somewhere there must have been a world without violence but that seemed impossible. Where there was peace there was war and where there was war there was violence. One could not live without the other. Love and hate, peace and war, life and death, all were part of the cycle that ended with rebirth. This was not like anything that happened with Evabon gladiators, criminals fighting as athletes until they had become rehabilitated. Gard had gone through that as a young Evabon. He knew the difference between rehabilitation and senseless violence.

It was good that Balor was safer outside of town. Violence like this around on a daily basis, it was better for the suicidal to live here.

As he walked into a dark alley, Gard saw a cat sitting on the ground. The cat in question was looking at the opposite wall. Looking? No. This cat was blind. Gard knew who this was.


	11. Chapter 11

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**Strange and Somehow Evil**

It was Lynx-O! The blind cat with a deaf tolac had escaped the destruction of the village Balor had called home. Gard had taken and his deaf tolac, Quasimodo, out of the town where it was truly safe.

"How did you get this far with this deaf creature? Gard placed a hand on Quasimodo. A sad looking red furred tolac with droopy ears! "The will of the gods?" Gard, being an Evabon, did not believe in gods but elemental spirits. He was just being sarcastic.

"If there were gods then they would have answered my prayers and given me back my eye sight!" Lynx-O was clearly not a believer in the divine. "I don't know, I just found my way here… or we did." Quasimodo started barking. Not that the tolac could hear himself bark but that wasn't why he was barking. An Evabon was walking through a field of crops overgrown crops. It was a man and he didn't seem to hear Quasimodo. He just kept walking. "What is it?"

Gard was not sure. That Evabon that had passed by was strange and somehow evil. "I do not know."

Eventually, Zuvowang found Brigid. As they walked along a path outside of town to avoid the violence an Evabon started to approach them. His brown skin was covered in fresh wounds and yet no blood flowed from them.

No blood flowing from the wounds… and so it was that Zuvowang approached the stranger. "Good day, dear friend!" The stranger did not speak. He just stopped in his tracks and stared right ahead. "What is your secret? Why do you not bleed?" Still the stranger did not speak.

The stranger's head just turned downward and his gaze fell upon Brigid. Those eyes! Empty, lifeless eyes! They just looked at Brigid. If the stranger could then he would have recognized something in a person he had never met.

Then the stranger started walking again. His eyes were like those of one dead. There was something not right about him. His gaze had filled Brigid with fear.

And so it was that the stranger came to a lake where swam Balor and his elder half-sister Thoris. Balor could swim without learning the hard way. He walked causing Balor and Thoris to both stare.

To Thoris it was impossible! This man had died a year ago! He had killed one of Indra's sons in a riot. That night after this stranger had eaten his dinner he died unexpectedly. He had been named Rikhard. His body had been stolen before it could be prepared for the funeral pyre!

As Rikhard walked across the shore he slipped and fell into the water. So it was that he drowned.

So came about a mystery. How could one who had died still have lived only to have drowned?


	12. Chapter 12

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**Truly Dead**

Rikhard's body had been dragged onto the shore of the lake. Gard, Lynx-O, Quasimodo, Zuvowang and Brigid had found there way to Rikhard was surprised to find him dead.

Lynx-O breathed in through his nostrils. It was impossible! Rikhard smelled as if he had been dead a year. "Who is he?"

"A suitor of mine if you could call him that." Thoris cradled the drowned body of Rikhard in her arms. Although he had courted her she had very little love for him since even in life Rikhard was lacking in personality. In fact the courting was simply Rikhard constantly asking the same question over and over again: "Will you be my wife?" Thoris sighed. "Three years of being courted by him was torture, it would have been better if my other half-brother Lukius had been interested in me." Gard and Zuvowang did not seem impressed by this comment and the news of another son of Pwyll intrigued Gard. For Evabon, marrying age was fifteen. If Rikhard had been constantly asking Thoris to marry him then he must not have been born in the town. Rikhard came from far away but where did he come from? "He died mysteriously last year after he killed one of Indra's sons in a riot." The son in particular Konan had been courting Thoris as well. Of course, Indra had not been thrilled about one of his fifty sons courting the granddaughter of his enemy.

"Indra?" Balor looked at his half-sister. "Who is Indra?"

"An enemy of our Wodanaz, our grandfather. He is a witch doctor, the father of voodoo!"

There was an awkward silence. Gard walked over and placed and opened Rikhard's eyelids. They were empty and lifeless! "He is dead."

Then Zuvowang approached. Needless to say red-eyed Zuvowang was beyond shocked to see Rikhard's eyes. "It is impossible! His eyes are the same as when he lived."

Thoris then looked at Rikhard's eyes. "But he has been dead a year and he looks as if he had never died. No decay… What is he?"

Gard let out a sigh. He closed Rikhard's eyes once more. "He is truly dead." Silence once more. Truly dead? This was strange. What could Gard have meant by such a thing? "My clan was a shamanistic one and our greatest enemy was a voodoo clan. This is something not for children to hear." Gard then looked over at Balor and Brigid. "You two, go, let adults speak of things that you are not yet old enough to hear."


	13. Chapter 13

**Welcome back everyone. Boy, won't we see Grune getting a bit racist in this story. I actually intend for Donalbain and Pumyra to have a similar relationship. Enjoy and review.**

**A Return**

Indra's return to the physical plane was not a lonely one. He had returned with Grune, General of Mumm-Ra's enemy. While Grune claimed to have been trapped protecting Mumm-Ra, Indra was not so easily fooled. He'd be keeping Grune on a short leash.

"Stay here. No funny business!" Indra left Grune alone in his quarters. He walked out to where a person of indeterminate race and gender. The person's name was Malko. Malko followed Indra into his quarters and Grune saw one of the most brutish looking of people. "Grune, this is Malko. Malko will be accompanying you to retrieve one of our zombies who had wondered off. His name is Rikhard he's an Evabon, brown in color. Bring him back if he is alive, if not bring back his head."

Grune couldn't believe this. He was being sent on a retrieval mission? And by a barbaric savage no less! Was this how low he had fallen to be a servant of an Evabon! "You may have freed me from the Astral Plane but you are in no way my master, beast!"

"Would you prefer I turn you into a zombie?"

Grune's eyes widened. This Evabon was bluffing! Someone of a higher race must have been creating zombies! Someone of Mumm-Ra's kind must have been raisng the dead! It just wasn't possible for someone of such a low race to have so much power! "You have no such power!"

"I do."

Still Indra bluffed! Grune was certain it was a bluff! What did Grune do? He turned to name-calling. "Barbarian! Savage! Beast! Demon! Mockery of Thunderans! Child of Mud!"

Indra gave a very dry laugh that was not amused in anyway. He then turned a head to Malko. "Please carry this… sub-cat out as you two go in search of Rikhard." Malko obeyed and soon left with a very unhappy Grune in one hand.

The Evabon witch doctor let out a sigh. Now that was out of the way, time to find that granddaughter of his.


	14. Chapter 14

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**Escalation**

Back at the town, the tensions were escalating. It was difficult, too soon for four different races to be living together in one settlement. It was possible for them to be friends but it was just so hard for them to get along in the same boundaries.

At the end of this day there would be nothing left but a burning town, ruins.

It is a terrible thing to not get along with one's neighbors. It can cause a chaotic environment. This is what would happen to this town on the tablelands.

It was the talk of conflict that caused Bengali to leave the town. He went straight to the home of Dejah, the Evabon woman that Pwyll had abandoned. There he found Gard, Zuvowang, Lynx-O, Dejah and Thoris. There were over the body of a dead Evabon.

"Things are getting worse! All of the races are moving quickly to push each other out so only one of them remains!"

Gard walked over to Bengali. "Find Dalv, Rotherham, Terag and Asaji. They'll be wearing the insignia of the Guardians of the Valley of the Tombs. It is in the shape of a sarcophagus! Tell them I sent you. They must save as many Evabon as possible, as for you, take Lynx-O and save as many cats from this senseless conflict."

"And where are we supposed to go? You have your mythical Valley of the Tombs to return to but what about us? Where are we supposed to go?"

Gard sighed. "Go where you wish. You can seek sanctuary in the Valley of the Tombs, go back to the ruins of Thundera or stay here and go back to town when the conflict. Just make a decision."

Bengali nodded. They had to move quickly! He took Lynx-O with him and left the house.

"What of us, Gard?" Dejah looked in wonder at the old warrior. "What of me and my daughter?"

"Do what you want… Stay here… Go to the Valley of the Tombs… as for me I grow tired of the Valley of the Tombs. I wish to live out my life in the vast, unknown wilderness. When this is over I shall return there and take Balor with me, you are all welcome to join me. Zuvowang and I plan to have Balor and Brigid married to one another when they are older and we'd prefer they grow up together. Will you join me my friends?"

Zuvowang gave a proud nod. As for Dejah and Thoris there were unsure. They did not know where else to go. This had been the only home they had ever known. Where would they go?


	15. Chapter 15

**Welcome back everyone. Enjoy and review.**

**Granddaughter of Indra**

Balor and Brigid sat by a river. Brigid was splashing her feet in the water while Balor was holding a sharp rock like it was a knife. It was common for Evabon to speak to one another in their own language, so Balor and Brigid spoke to each other in the language of their race.

"What are we doing?" Balor looked at the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his arm. He was considering using the sharp rock to shape it into something else. It had started out as an arrow but had since become a lightning bolt. It would be better to just scrape the scar away until there was nothing but a large gash.

"Staying out of harms way!" Brigid's eyes were on the sharp rock in Balor's hand. His intentions frightened Brigid. She didn't want to see Balor put himself through pain just to get rid of something like that scar.

"'Staying out of harm's way?' What about that… thing!"

"You mean Rikhard? What about him?"

"There could be more out there like him! That monster Indra is the one responsible for the way Rikhard was when he died!" Balor tightened his grip on the rock and it started to grow in length. He was young and his great skill in shamanistic magic was also his greatest flaw. Being so young and without a mentor Balor's emotions could cause his control over the elements to cause harm when he didn't mean to. "Thank goodness my grandfather is Wodanaz, the first shaman, and not some black magician!"

"A black magician, am I?" A voice, great and terrible, raged.

Balor and Brigid both turned to see Indra himself! An ebon figure with a skull mask upon his face! His eyes white with no visible pupil or iris! There was something freakish about his appearance.

"Y-Y-Your Indra?" Balor's eyes were on the skull mask… But it wasn't just a mask… It was a skull that he had turned into a mask. "I was expecting something… Actually you're what I expected."

Indra's eyes seemed to stare right into Balor's soul. It only caused the boy to grow nervous. "I never thought my granddaughter would be in the company of one of that glorified healer's ilk and or to be impure?" Indra's head turned to look upon Brigid. "My granddaughter… a grey skin? Shame! Shame to my entire bloodline!" This was hardly a good way for Brigid to meet her maternal grandfather. Indra was so enraged to see that his granddaughter was grey skinned that he formed a fist and held it out in the air. As he did so, Brigid floated into the air as if Indra's hand was around her neck. The thought of ending the life of this disgrace was tempting but Indra would not kill one of his own bloodline. As much as he wanted to he couldn't. He put Brigid down and looked once more upon Balor. He hated Wodanaz and all of his bloodline, whom he could sense just as much as he could sense those of his own bloodline. "Why show so much care for her? I'm the enemy of your grandfather, she is my granddaughter do you not hate her now?"

Balor did not understand the question. Why should he hate Brigid? He had a feeling in his heart for her. The thought of suddenly hating his best friend was alienating to the boy. "Why should I?"

Indra let go of Brigid and walked away. He was so confused.


	16. Chapter 16

**Welcome back everyone. In this chapter, I introduce the concept of the Evabon ages. Enjoy and review.**

**Anti-Climax**

Gard sat on a stool looking at the body of Rikard. Poor young fellow! Death by drowning without even being aware! What a horrible way to go.

The old savage sat in thought. The Evabon had only known two ages. Gard had been born at the end of the Enotes age and the beginning of the Eznorb age. The Enotes age, where everything looked nice but things were terrible, ended with Antaeus' death. The Eznorb age, where conquest was always easy, just never seemed to end mainly for those who were born at the beginning of it. When the next age would begin and what it would be like no one knew.

Zuvowang had no thought of the ages to come. He was far more interested in if there would be funeral games or if there wouldn't be. Rikhard was dead and there would surely be a funeral but would there be funeral games? That's what Zuvowang wanted to know. Then he remembered the conflict going on in the yonder town. There would be no funeral games.

The talk about voodoo was over and now Rikhard was being prepared for his pyre. The pyre was prepared and Rikhard's body was carried out. As Rikhard's body was placed on the pyre two beings appeared on the scene. One was a saber tooth and the other was… something.

Zuvowang recognized the saber tooth. Grune, as Panthro had explained was a traitor to Thundera.

"Grune! Traitor of Thundera! I spared you the last time we met but this time I'll hang you by your entrails!" Gard was impressed. He had no idea Zuvowang knew the word "entrails" or even what it meant.

"Do I know you, barbarian?" To Grune all Evabon looked alike. This was extremely ludicrous given the range of skin colors and height amongst Evabon, however the range of height was starting to grow smaller to the point that Evabon over ten feet were becoming no-nexistant. How Grune could think all Evabon looked alike was a complete and utter mystery.

Zuvowang on the other hand was thoroughly unhappy about being unrecognized. "Yes, you know me! I'm Zuvowang for Uther's sake!"

Grune's answer was the most dry of responses. "Ah."

Zuvowang was not impressed. He ran for the sword used as a marker for the grave near Dejah and Thoris' home, pulled it from the ground and charged at Grune. The monstrous creature, whom accompanied Grune, stepped forward to meet Zuvowang only to lose its life.

Grune looked at the dead body of his companion. He was outnumbered. Two against one… Two old Evabon against a middle aged cat. One of them was particularly angry. He'd be better off explaining to Indra what had happened. Grune held up his mace and nodded while glaring. With that he left. Next time, when he had many with him.


	17. Chapter 17

**Welcome back everyone. This is the last chapter of this story. Next week, I'll begin with me next story "Challenging the Komrev King." Enjoy and review and I'll see you next time!**

**A New Home**

The town had been burnt to the ground. Many had escaped to find new lives thanks such as Bengali and Lynx-O who went on to stay in the Valley of the Tombs to wait for the ThunderCats to return. Unfortunately, there were twice as many that were dead.

That place had left a scar on the tablelands. It would heal in time and people would return to the tablelands but until then Dejah, Thoris and Indra's cult would be the only sentient inhabitants of the tablelands.

Gard, Balor and many of their friends went on to live in the wilderness. At the very heart of the wilderness a village was built. It was there that they made their home. The heart was an island on a small lake. There was no safer place in the wilderness! Since the Mumm-Ra Monkeys could not swim and there was no trees with limbs long enough to reach the island, those most dangerous of the denizens of the wilderness had no way of getting on the island. This island was a sanctuary but there was no fruit or game on it and so they would always have to leave the island. Still, it was a home.

One day Gard returned to the cave he had called home during his exile. He removed the boulder that served as a door and stepped into the cave. It had been some months since last he had been here. Falling to his knees, Gard let out a sigh and looked out at the trees. The wilderness was filled with beauty and danger and lost cities filled with good and evil. Despite having lived in the wilderness for many centuries during his long exile, Gard knew that the wilderness jealously guarded its secrets many of which were even unknown to him. He could search for those secrets another time. It was better to get what he had come for.

He walked through the tunnel to the cave where he had kept many books. Tragedies, comedies, histories all still there! They were his! These were what he had come for!

Now, Zuvowang could learn how to read! To go for so long being illiterate was truly terrifying. It was worse than any kind of death or torture, probably worse than being stuck in the nine circles as an eternal!

Gard took some books then came back for more. There was many and it was easier to go back and forth, then there was also the fact that Gard could be a stubborn old thing when it suited him.

But at long last, he had come home! He had a family! Friends! He was not alone this time in the wilderness.

**The End**


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